Yoik

This song style is one of the most archaic in Europe, and contains many intricate superimposed rhythms; it is related to the song of the Siberian people, the Eskimos and North American native peoples. Yoik was formerly a part of Saami religious practices, but was forbidden by Christian authorities; even today it is prohibited in some areas. Yoik is very different from the Western concept of singing. A Yoik is not about something but rather is the something; the person, landscape, or animal being sung about is invoked through the Yoik. The singer of the Yoik becomes the thing he or she is Yoiking, and the Yoik has no beginning and no end.